Friday, April 24, 2009

The shop around the corner

Well, it's not exactly around the corner but it is close enough to get to with ease. I was very surprised to see home brew equipment and ingredients available on the shelves of my local Nature's Way health store The Health Store. I know it was once quite a common occurrence but I never saw it personally. Perhaps it is recessionary cliché thing, but I'm happy that it is there both as a source of the simpler bits of kit (I spotted finings, bubblers, caps and campden tablets) but also because it might encourage more to take up home brewing, which can only be a good thing for craft beer in Ireland.

9 comments:

That's interesting. I remember when Kieron and I were starting off we were looking in Nature's Way a lot to find bits and bobs, or when we ran out of something. All I ever found were dusty bungs and airlocks, and the odd jar of citric acid. Yep, I reckon the recession and the media coverage (ICB media whores :D) might be helping.

I've never used a Young's kit and haven't brewed with any kit in years. The early ones I did use were boosted with a kilo of sugar in the traditional beginners way and weren't too good. They can be improved by using DME to add body and fermentables instead of sugar.

As you said, age is a big factor and the yeast can be sluggish too. I didn't check under the cap but I imagine the yeast is in an unmarked sachet, but will be an ale strain, even for the lager kits.